• Aydin Aydoseli, Halil Can, Yavuz Aras, Pulat Akin Sabanci, Mehmet Osman Akcakaya, and Omer Faruk Unal.
• Istanbul University, Istanbul School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Turk Neurosurg. 2016 Jan 1; 26 (5): 783-9.

AimTo evaluate the effects of NMDA receptor antagonist memantine and pancaspase inhibitor Q-VD-Oph in combination or alone in experimental spinal cord injury.Material And Methods45 male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups. Spinal cord injury was created with the clip compression technique. The drugs were administered either alone of in combination to the subjects according to their groups. Motor function was assessed with Tarlov's motor grading scale and the inclined plane technique. The subjects were sacrificed at the fifth postoperative day. Histopathological examination was done with the use of hematoxylin eosin and TUNEL staining.ResultsThe results for TUNEL staining and apoptotic cell counts revealed statistically significant differences in Q-VD-Oph and combined treatment groups. Tarlov motor grading scale and inclined plane test results were also found significantly better in these two groups.ConclusionCombined use of memantine and Q-VD-OPh provides better histological and clinical results. The combined inhibition of the two major pathways, necrosis and apoptosis, needs to be further assessed with in-vivo or in-vitro studies.

30 keywords...

hide…